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Floor Speech

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Ms. BUTLER. Mr. President, today, I rise to honor Women's History Month and to once again bring attention to the destructive practice of book banning taking place all across our Nation.

At this time, I am also going to be joined by my esteemed colleague, Senator Tina Smith from Minnesota.

Our Nation's literature serves as a mirror, a window, and a door to endless possibilities, fueling our imagination, fostering empathy, and challenging us to think critically about our beliefs and values. To many young Americans, opening a book with characters who resemble them and their lived experiences is the very essence of our Nation's commitment to freedom of thought. These stories highlight the voices of everyday Americans who often go unheard.

Let me put the horrors of these book bans in context. PEN America provides a comprehensive overview of the increase in book bans across U.S. schools during the 2021 to 2022 school year. It reveals a significant rise in instances of censorship, with over 2,500 cases affecting nearly 1,650 unique titles. Most of these bans are driven by organized groups targeting books that explore LGBTQ+ themes and racial issues.

Adding on to this, in 2022, the American Library Association documented 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources, marking the highest number of attempted book bans in over 20 years and nearly doubling the count from 2021. A significant 38-percent increase was observed in the number of unique titles targeted, with the majority concerning LGBTQIA+ topics or authored by individuals from diverse racial backgrounds.

The worst part is that these challenges are increasingly initiated by groups rather than individuals, with a shift toward targeting multiple titles at once. It is the new veneer by which historical revisionists intend to erode the history of our people.

I am all but obligated to ensure that all forms of expression remain unrestrained. Just as rivers carve the landscapes of America, literature has the profound capacity to shape the minds and lives of America's youth. These stories flow through their consciousness, eroding old biases, watering seeds of new ideas, and guiding them along the path of self-discovery. In navigating these waters, young people learn to understand and embrace their identities, recognize their place in a larger narrative, and appreciate the diversity of the human experience.

Literature, in its boundless forms, acts as a river--constantly moving, shaping, and transforming the selfhood of our youth, guiding them toward the vast ocean of their potential.

Growing up in rural Mississippi and as the descendant of sharecroppers, my journey echoes the narratives of resilience and perseverance that are deeply rooted in American history, and so I found solace reading the words of the great Maya Angelou--one of our Nation's quintessential civil rights leaders and one of its most prolific writers. With her profound literary and societal contributions, Angelou left an indelible mark across America.

Angelou's voice, particularly through her autobiography ``I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,'' offers deep insights into the human condition, advocating for civil rights and female empowerment. Yet, proponents of book banning do not believe that her story and her perspective have a place in our national narrative.

``I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'' is set against the backdrop of the rural South, providing a poignant exploration of Angelou's own experiences growing up as a Black girl in America during the Great Depression of the 1930s and 1940s. Her words encapsulate the essence of American beauty.

It is not just the triumphs but also the struggles that shape us, guiding our paths to becoming who we are meant to be. ``I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'' is a testament to the human spirit's capacity for resilience, for transformation, and for triumph over adversity, making it a timeless and essential piece of literature. Every child in this Nation should have the opportunity to read it if they are truly to understand the history of the United States.

In her writing, Maya Angelou offers:

Without willing it, I had gone from being ignorant of being ignorant to being aware of being aware. And the worst part of my awareness was that I didn't know what I was aware of. I knew very little, but I was certain that the things I had yet to learn wouldn't be taught to me at George Washington High School. I began to cut classes, to walk in Golden Gate Park or wander along the shiny counter of the Emporium Department Store. When Mother discovered that I was playing truant, she told me that if I didn't want to go to school one day, if there were no tests being held, and if my school work was up to standard, all I had to do was tell her and I could stay home. She said that she didn't want some white woman calling her up to tell her something about her child that she didn't know. And she didn't want to be put in the position of lying to a white woman because I wasn't woman enough to speak up. That put an end to my truancy, but nothing appeared to lighten the long gloomy day that going to school became. To be left alone on the tightrope of youthful unknowing is to experience the excruciating beauty of full freedom and the threat of eternal indecision.

Few, if any, survive their teens. Most surrender to the vague but murderous pressure of adult conformity. It becomes easier to die and avoid conflicts than to maintain a constant battle with the superior forces of maturity. Until recently each generation found it more expedient to plead guilty to the charge of being young and ignorant, easier to take the punishment meted out by the older generation (which had itself confessed to the same crime short years before).

The command to grow up at once was more bearable than the faceless horror of wavering purpose, which was youth. The bright hours when the young rebelled against the descending sun had to give way to twenty-four-hour periods called ``days'' that were named as well as numbered. The Black female is assaulted in her tender years by all those common forces of nature at the same time that she is caught in the tripartite crossfire of masculine prejudice, white illogical hate and Black lack of power. The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste, and even belligerence. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance.

To those advancing the banning of books, I ask you to pause and reflect on a moment when a book truly spoke to you. Let that memory guide you to understand the power of literature, not just as a mirror of society but as a builder of empathy and understanding across diverse experiences. Consider the richness these narratives bring to our collective understanding and the importance of keeping that diversity accessible for all.

Literature, like rivers carving landscape, shapes the minds and lives of our youth, guiding them toward self-discovery and empowering them to embrace their identities.

Maya Angelou's work exemplifies the resilience and strength of marginalized communities--of the community of Black women--offering profound insights into the human experience.

I urge my colleagues to reflect on the transformative power of literature and to join me on the Senate floor to read an excerpt from a banned book that changed their lives but has since been banned from the lives of others.

May we continue to strive for a future where every voice is heard and every story is valued. May America read freely.

Now I turn to my colleague, Senator Smith from Minnesota.

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